KIRKUS REVIEW

Herman, best known for nonfiction
about what royalty get up to in (and out of) the bedroom (Sex with Kings, 2004, etc.), changes direction to enter the teen-crossover
field with straight-up historical fantasy.

Drawing on Alexander of Macedon and
throwing in some additional magic and mayhem, Herman has created an ensemble
cast of teens poised to conquer or be conquered: historical figures Alexander,
Hephaestion, and Cynane, original characters Katerina, Jacob, and Zofia.
Unsurprisingly, things start slowly, with a large number of people to put in
place and a world to build, but once most characters are in Alexander’s Pella
(other than Persian Zofia), the plot starts crackling: Alexander’s mother,
Queen Olympias, is evil; his half sister Cynane is not much better, seducing
Heph to break up a friendship and cast a spell of power. Country girl Katerina
has unexpected power and strength, and country boy Jacob finds himself allied
with the egalitarian, zealous, and thoroughly unpleasant Aesarian lords,
Macedon’s most immediate enemy. Mixed with the plot and counterplot are
genuinely sexy (although graphically tame) scenes, plenty of historical-fact–dropping
(only occasionally obvious), and hints that magic is waking up in the world
after a long dormancy.

Both thoroughly researched and
absolutely modern, this harkens back to the slightly soapy but still reasonably
intelligent mass-market historicals of an earlier era, updated just right for
today’s audience. (author’s note, author Q-and-A, discussion questions) (Historical
fantasy. 14 & up)

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